


General Incivility

by Like_A_Dove



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, M/M, Under-Desk Blow Jobs, darth darcy indeed, it is a truth universally acknowledged that rey and ben wanna fuck each other, the reylo pride and prejudice mash up that no one really asked for but here we are, this is ridiculous nonsense don't say I didn't warn you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-06-05 09:03:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15167270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Like_A_Dove/pseuds/Like_A_Dove
Summary: Rey didn't know it was possible to instantly hate someone. And then she met Ben Solo, her new boss.A Pride & Prejudice retelling of a sort.





	1. Prologue

Rey’s fingers are cold. And so are her toes and the tips of her ears. But her smile is warm.

“Finn!” She grins at her phone screen before briefly showing it to her roommate. “Our utility bill is half of what it was last month! I told you that turning off the heat for a bit would be worth it.”

Finn, who has yanked a blanket up over his head so that it looks as if he has a hood, beams at her from the other end of the couch. “Does this mean we can pool our extra funds for a Christmas tree?”

Rey nods, tucking her freezing left hand under her lap and scrolling through her phone with her right. Christmas is in two weeks and she and Finn have both been trying to cut corners for extra cash. Right now Rey only has a couple more people left on her shopping list, and the saved money from their cheaper utility bill should help cushion her (admittedly depressing) finances.

“Besides,” Finn continues, gesturing to the white cat curled up in his lap, “Trooper is a heating pad in his own right.”

Rey reaches over and rubs behind the sleeping cat’s ears, and the happy purring makes her smile widen. 

Both her and Finn’s phones _ping_ at the same time, indicating a work email.

Finn instantly starts tapping away on his laptop that he has perched on the arm of the couch, pulling up the email and scanning over it in record speed.

“Holy shit, Rey.”

Frowning, she exits the Facebook app and opens up her email. Moments later she’s gaping down at her phone. 

“Luke is stepping down as editor-in-chief,” she breathes, looking back up at Finn with wide eyes. “He’s leaving the magazine.”

Finn looks just as shell shocked as she feels. “He’s joked about retiring soon in front of Rose and I, but I didn’t _actually_ think…”

Rey back looks down at the email, reading it again a second time in hopes that the words will sink in further. Luke Skywalker, her mentor and the man who had taken such chances on her when she was just a high school graduate, is leaving his own magazine.

Finn begins to read parts of the email aloud, as if he can’t believe it either. “I will be leaving the magazine in the hands of my capable nephew—”

“I can’t _believe_ he’s not giving it to Holdo!”

“Who will also be bringing along his colleague, Poe Dameron, to fill in the currently vacant creative director position.” There’s a brief, charged moment of quiet before Finn begins typing in earnest. “I’m Googling them both.”

Rey is still too stunned to do the same.

“Oh my god, Rey. This is them at some fancy New York publication thing.” Finn turns his laptop around so that it’s facing her, and when she narrows her eyes at the screen two well dressed men in suits look back at her. One is smiling, tailored suit obviously expensive, and the man towering next to him is _not_ smiling.

Finn turns the laptop back around with a very grave expression. “Luke is throwing the magazine to the wolves.”

“We don’t know that,” Rey whines and stares, aggrieved, at the last paragraph in Luke’s email. “Luke put everything he has into our publication. I’m sure he wouldn’t leave it with people who don’t know what they’re doing or don’t appreciate the heart of the magazine.”

“Rey, we work at an entertainment magazine. Part of your job is to live tweet Stranger Things! We wear t-shirts and jeans to work and who _knows_ when someone cleaned the breakroom microwave last. I’m pretty sure these guys are in Armani in these pictures.” He groans and rubs at his face in apprehension before focusing back down at his screen. “We’re sheep and they’re wolves.”

Another pieces of info clicks into place, and Rey frowns. “Luke never told me he had a nephew.”

Finn is obviously scrolling through more unhelpful photos. “Well, he never talked about his family much.”

Rey still has not exited out of the email, though she’s read it five times by now. She wants to snap at Finn that while Luke might not have spoken about his family much to _others_ , Rey had thought she and her mentor had a different kind of kinship.

Apparently not.

She wonders if Luke’s nephew is anything at all like his uncle.

Rey stands, tossing her phone onto the cushion and walking behind the couch toward her bedroom. She’s beginning to feel restless, and the best way to lose all this new energy is to hit the gym for a bit. As she walks behind Finn she spies him scrolling through Poe Dameron’s Instagram account.

“Really?”

His shoulders shrug upward and he doesn’t turn around to regard her. “What? He’s attractive and he’ll be at the company Christmas party next Saturday.” He hovers his mouse over the ‘follow’ button before being distracted by more _pings_ from his phone. “Oh, Rose is blowing up the group chat.”

Rey leans over the couch and snatches her phone from where she’s left it. Sure enough, she has eight new text messages.

“She’s freaking out too.”

Finn is now two weeks deep into Dameron’s Facebook profile. “He’s single,” her roommate notes, eyebrows furrowing together pensively. Then he sighs in relief. “And gay, thank god.”

As Rey pulls up her messages she receives four more, each from someone else that she and Finn work with. “I think the entire office is having a meltdown over this.”

“It is quite the bomb to drop on a Sunday.” More tapping from Finn and his laptop, and Rey hovers over him so that she can look at his screen. Finn types ‘Ben Solo’ into the search bar, but nothing beyond a few pictures and an article from six months ago announcing him leaving First Order Publishing pops up.

Finn taps his chin. “What a weird career jump,” he observes. And just as Rey starts to lean in and further analyze the pictures of Ben Solo, who is _definitely_ a man she would give a second glance to if she saw him in public, Finn closes his laptop.

He taps his fingertips together. “Rey, can we rethink our plan to get our party outfits from Good Will?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This is my weird vague “Pride & Prejudice” Reylo-in-an-office-with-porn mash up thing. 
> 
> A couple notes:
> 
> I love Pride and Prejudice, but a direct retelling this is not. Obviously the overall trajectory of the story and character arcs will be the same, as well as certain famous scenes and lines. But if your favorite line doesn’t make it in or if I decide to fuck with the order of events and scenes don’t come for me!
> 
> I know fuckall about working at a magazine or any publication, really. I work a full-time job and have a poppin’ social life, I don’t have time to really research anything so that it’s as realistic as possible so just remember that this is all for fun! Fanfiction can be a beautiful thing for lazy writers like myself.
> 
> Wow I hope this thing doesn’t turn into garbage lmao
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/l%22) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_).
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	2. "I never saw such happy manners!"

Aha shake taper jean girl with a motel face  
Aha shake bury your eyes in a secret place  
Aha shake black as night on a Sunday

“Taper Jean Girl” by Kings of Leon

**

Rey can’t suppress her grin. “Damn. You look _good_.”

Finn mirrors her expression and, hands in his pockets, looks down to survey his outfit once again. He’s dressed sharply in a royal blue button down and nice black dress pants. Rey doesn’t really know what kind of shoes he’s wearing, only that they’re black and shiny and very classy.

“Thanks! You look good too!”

Rey peers down at her own Christmas Party outfit. In the end, she had splurged a little to order this specific t-shirt online. It’s black and formfitting with a snowman dressed as a clown holding a red balloon with the script ‘IT’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ sprawled across the chest. IT had become a bit of an inside joke between Rey and her coworkers last October, when she’d been the writer chosen to see it and review it for the magazine. And Rey has been deathly afraid of clowns since before she can remember. Her seeing the movie had become a bit of an event around the office.

Rey had ended up loving the movie and devouring the book right after. The office should appreciate her shirt tonight.

She’s tucked the tee into a skirt that hits several inches above the knee, and she’s pretty sure this might be a fashion no-no. But she’d ended up spending the rest of her spare cash on extra treats for Trooper and a new cookbook for Rose, so she had to flesh out the rest of her outfit with findings already in her closet. She’s thrown black leggings underneath the skirt for warmth and then slipped on some ankle booties, debatably one of the nicest pairs of shoes she owns.

Rey holds her arms out and does a little spin for Finn, who laughs and gives her a small round of applause.

“Nervous?” her roommate asks, shooing Trooper from rubbing up against the leg of his black pants.

Rey shakes her head, although that’s a bit of a white lie. She’ll meet her new boss tonight and that’s _always_ a big deal.

“Don’t let me drink too much,” she says, pointing a finger at Finn. He snorts, but nods in acquiescence.

“Don’t want another Fourth of July incident?”

Rey sighs and grabs her purse, heading toward the front door of their town home with heavy footsteps. “Please, Finn. You promised you would never speak of that again.”

**

“Don’t be mad at me, Rey. I’ve been planning this for ages. It just wasn’t the right time until now.”

Rey nods into her rum and Coke, trying not to let on to how much Luke’s words are affecting her. She and Finn had been at the office party for about an hour, laughing and joking with their fellow coworkers, when Luke had tugged on Rey’s elbow and asked her for a private word.

He’s going to Europe for the next few months to travel and sight-see. “You’ll be just fine,” he had reassured her. “I won’t be one call away, necessarily, but I’ll be back before you know it. And if you have any questions you can always email me. Or talk to Holdo.”

The realization that for the first time in years Luke won’t be a phone call away if Rey needs him is beginning to weigh heavily on her shoulders. She drains the last of her drink and holds the empty glass down by her hip, looking dejected.

Luke frowns and puts a hand on her shoulder. “I know this is a lot of change in a short amount of time—”

“You can say that again,” Rey snaps, unable to keep her frustration and poor mood out of her tone.

Luke’s frown deepens. “Rey, you’re a talented writer. I wouldn’t have brought you onto the magazine when you were barely nineteen if I didn’t have faith in your talent. Now it’s time for you to do the same. You’re competent and a hard worker. You’ll do just fine without me. My nephew isn’t the most pleasant of fellows sometimes, but even he knows good writing when he sees it.”

He’s trying to comfort her, Rey knows. But this whole scenario still stings. It’s one thing for Luke to retire. But it’s a whole different story for him to retire and then up and leave for months. And Rey, while trusting Luke’s words, has always had a harsh streak of self-doubt inside of her that she hasn’t been able to fully get over.  
“Speaking of my nephew…” Luke jerks his head and Rey turns, craning her neck a little so that she can see.

Not that she really needed to. Ben Solo towers over most everyone in the small space that Luke had rented out for the office for the evening. He has a drink in his hand and sips it absentmindedly before bending down to listen to what the man walking beside him is saying. Rey immediately recognizes the other man to be Poe Dameron, thanks to Finn and his internet stalking.

“Want me to introduce you?” Luke suggests, raising one eyebrow at Rey.

She sighs and holds up her empty glass. “I need another drink first.”

**

Thankfully Finn is already standing at the bar with Rose, who looks adorable. She’s wearing a red dress, perfect for Christmas, and her framed black glasses compliment the structure of her face. Rose perks up when she spots Rey, immediately lifting her hand and waving her over.

She smiles when her eyes trace over Rey’s shirt. “Oh, that’s clever!” Then she winces. “Also kind of creepy.”

“Thank you.” Rey returns her smile and goes back to fixing her second drink for the evening, hand already shaking a little with nervous jitters. She swallows and takes a deep breath, trying to settle down a bit.

Finn ruins her attempt at calm by leaning into her space and whispering, “Did you see them? They got here about fifteen minutes ago.”

Rey nods, lifting her new drink to her lips and taking a sip. It’s strong, thankfully. “Luke offered to introduce me.”

Finn is now looking over her shoulder, no doubt at their new boss and colleague. “They’re mostly standing together. They’re not really interacting with anyone else.”

“Well that’s silly,” Rose points out, taking a sip of her red wine. “Luke’s nephew is going to be head over the magazine. He really should make the effort to meet everyone.”

Finn shrugs and Rey turns, surveying the crowd until she once again picks out Ben Solo and Poe Dameron. Dameron is talking to the taller man animatedly, but Solo looks like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world then at this office Christmas party.

Rey turns back to Finn, heart beating wildly in her chest. “Want to go up and introduce ourselves?”

Rose lips part a little with surprise and Finn looks like Rey has shocked him with an electric wire. “What—now?”

Rey shrugs. “Why not get it over with?”

Her other two companions nod, and then without any further ado they’re moving across the small open floor, careful not to run into anyone in this crowded room. Finn is perhaps taking up a bit more of Rey’s personal space then he needs to, a sure sign that he’s anxious about what’s about to happen.

And just like that, they’re standing in front of Ben Solo and Poe Dameron.

Poe smiles at them instantly, as if delighted to finally be meeting new people, but Ben glowers at them like they’ve personally offended him by approaching.

Astonishingly, it’s Finn who speaks first. “Hello! Um, we thought we would come introduce ourselves and welcome you to Skywalker Magazine.” He shoves his hand in Poe’s direction. “I’m Finn, editorial assistant.”

Poe immediately envelops Finn’s hand with his own. “It’s nice to meet you Finn! I’m Poe Dameron, the new art director. I look forward to working with you.” There are laughing lines around Poe’s eyes that make him look all the more endearing. Rey can almost _feel_ Finn’s crush deepening as the two men shake hands.

Finn looks slightly flustered when he finally pulls his hand away. “S-Same! Uh, this is Rose. She’s our photo editor.”

Rose gives both men an awkward wave. “Hi! Nice to meet you both.”

Finn gestures to Rey. “And this is—”

“Your shirt.”

Rey balks, because she hadn’t been expecting a voice quite that deep to emerge from Ben Solo’s mouth. It makes her insides feel a bit more liquified.

She blinks, taken aback. “Sorry?”

Ben rolls his eyes, as if annoyed he’s having to repeat himself. “Your _shirt_.”

And his sudden annoyance is now making Rey annoyed. “Yeah. What about it?”

“I’m assuming it’s promoting the new adaption that released last year?” He’s staring down his nose at her, which makes Rey prickle a little.

“Yes,” she answers, voice a bit sharp.

If he picks up on her obvious shift in mood he doesn’t let on. “Thought so. The movie was stupid. Nothing like the book.”

And then Ben Solo just turns and walks away.

Finn and Rose gape after him, but Rey presses her lips together forcefully, already feeling her breathing beginning to shudder with her growing anger. What a _dick_.

“Sorry about that.” Poe at least has the decency to seem embarrassed by his friend’s antics. “Ben isn’t great at parties.” He says it like that completely excuses all of Ben’s rude behavior.

But Rey just gives Poe a strained smile and takes a large gulp of her drink, wincing slightly as it burns going down her throat. “It’s alright,” she says around a cough.  


Rose asks if she wants to walk with her to the bathroom and Rey quickly takes her up on the offer, leaving Finn and Poe to speak with each other alone.

**

The party is winding down and Rey couldn’t be more grateful. She’d managed to move past that odd moment with Ben Solo, especially since everyone else at this party has had nothing but lovely things to say about her shirt. But every time she spots his morose face across the crowd she feels that simmering anger begin to prick and bubble in the pit of her stomach.

He’d just been so fucking _rude_.

But…

Maybe he really is bad at parties. Rey understands that social anxiety can put a lot of unwanted stress on a person, especially in a throng of strangers.

She finds herself back at the bar, fixing herself a glass of ice water with a slice of lemon, when she realizes she’s only a couple of feet away from Ben and Poe, who both have their backs turned to her.

“I like everyone we’ve met so far.” Poe sounds lively and excited, and Rey can’t help but smile to herself as she selects the fattest slice of lemon. She honestly can’t wait to see him around the office; he seems like a lovely guy.

Ben most have huffed or rolled his eyes or done something equally as unsavory, because Poe gives a surprised laugh. “What? Everyone here has been perfectly polite to us so far. Especially Finn. He seems really great.”

“I don’t care how polite they all are. I care whether they’ll be able to do their damn jobs. My uncle has always been too soft when it comes to his employees. That’s why the magazine has been suffering as of late. Did you read last month’s issue?”

Rey is practically steaming. Without really realizing it she finds herself taking small steps in the direction of the two men. Their words become clearer the closer she gets to their turned backs.

“It’s a little rough around the edges,” Poe admits. “But that article about Weinstein, the one—”

“I know the one you’re talking about. Is the guy who wrote it one of the ‘polite’ idiots who introduced themselves to us tonight? His name was Rey Johnson, no doubt short for ‘Raymond’ and he’s just trying to be edgy. Anyway, the article was garbage—”

Rey might be seeing red when she does what doe does next. Just a little. “It’s not short for anything, actually. It’s just Rey.”

Both men whirl around, and Poe looks shocked, his cheeks flushing. Ben Solo, however… He just stands there in his designer suit and tie, which probably costs more then Rey makes in an entire month, and looks down at her as if she’s nothing.

“It’s just Rey,” she repeats, clutching her plastic of cup water so firmly that some of it bobs and spills over the top, dribbling down her hand. “You would know that if you had actually let Finn finish introducing us earlier instead of making absurd statements about my shirt.”

Ben’s dark eyes narrow. “Absurd statements?”

“The movie was great,” Rey says, voice a little louder then normal because of her anger. “It was a fantastic adaption of a book that’s over a thousand pages long. And while it might not have kept stride with King’s novel scene by scene, the heart and spirit of the book are there. Maybe if you stopped being so pretentious you’d actually be able to, I don’t know, enjoy things.”

And then, before she does something stupid like insult her new boss further, Rey turns and marches away.

**

“You said _what_ to the new editor-in-chief of the magazine we work at?”

Rey groans from the passenger’s seat. “Can we please drop it, Finn? I’m sure I’ll be in for a write-up as soon as we’re all back from holiday break.”

Finn is shaking his head in awe, gaze fixed pointedly on the road ahead of him. “I just didn’t think you’d lose your cool on him literally the first night we met him.”  


“Yeah, well. He was a jerk.” She opts to change the subject. “Seems like you and Poe hit it off pretty well.”

Finn is quiet for a moment before breaking out into a soft, genuine smile. “He was really nice. And funny. And charming. And he actually seemed eager to meet everyone. He asked what your name was after you walked off and everything. Ugh, Rey. I cannot start crushing on this guy. It’s only going to make going into work torture.”

Rey bites her bottom lip and giggles. “You’re not fooling me. You’ve been waiting for a guy like him to show up for _ages_.”

“I guess, but it’s not like anything is going to happen. He’s technically above me in terms of office hierarchy. And he’s best friends with my new boss. We’ll see.”

Rey smiles at him even though he can’t really turn his head to see her. “Well, I approve. You’ve liked much stupider people before, so Dameron is a nice change of pace.”

“Hey!”

Rey laughs.

Later that night she does not dream about a pair of brown eyes in a handsome face. She absolutely does _not_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust Ben Solo to sweep in with the worst introduction in history. Poor dude has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.
> 
> Thank you all so much for the lovely responses so far! I’m still amazed so many of you guys are here for this story; it’s just me fucking around and having fun. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all your comments so far, and love seeing y’all’s guesses in terms of which character will represent who. Is Hux Mr. Wickham? Who knows. Stay tuned to find out!
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_).
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	3. "Pride is a very common failing."

So I look in your direction  
But you pay me no attention, do you  
I know you don't listen to me  
'Cause you say you see straight through me, don't you

“Shiver” by Coldplay

**

Rey did not receive a write-up from Ben Solo the first Monday everyone returned to office. In fact, Ben Solo isn’t even at the office when she and Finn arrive that morning, clutching their coffees and both half asleep.

Rey slumps down at her desk, eyes feeling bleary as she begins setting up her laptop and adjusting the sitting position of her office chair. She hasn’t checked her work emails much over the past several days, as Christmas had come and then of course New Years right on its heels. And this is one of the few times in the year where Rey really lets herself unwind and not think about work, even though she really does love her job despite the fact that Luke as left. But damn, the atmosphere of the office feels so _different_ already with him gone.

“Is the internet down for you?” Finn asks from the cubicle to her right. They share a little cubicle wall and sometimes will knock out patterns during the day to make the other smile.

Rey winces on Finn’s behalf. “Nope. It’s working fine for me.” She pulls her work email and begins sifting through the mountain of messages. “It most be your laptop again,” she says sympathetically.

She hears Finn groan and then swear. “I should have asked Santa for a new computer.”

The noise rises in the office floor as more and more employees begin to drift in from the chill outside and Rey, after shooting off several emails answering questions or setting up interviews, notices an email from Ben Solo that was sent late New Year’s Eve.

Rey’s heart leaps into her throat because what if Ben Solo is going to write her up for misbehaving after all and _why_ did that sound so filthy in her own head—

But no. The email was sent to the entire office.

“Meeting today at 10am with the entire staff,” Finn says from his desk, confirming out loud what Rey is currently reading over.

Now it’s Rey’s turn to groan and swear. Because, for some reason, having to sit through an entire staff meeting being led by Ben Solo sounds like a nightmare. Employee meetings can already be boring enough, the last thing she wants to do on her first day back at work in the new year is to deal with him.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad?” Finn offers, but Rey just sighs deeply and begins taping away on her laptop, hurriedly giving her opinion on several graphics Rose is working on for a spread.

**

Except Ben Solo still has not come into the office by the time the big meeting rolls around.

Rey feels slightly disappointed by this fact. She’s not interested in being in a meeting led by him, sure. But she is interested in seeing _him_. Sort of. 

Only ever so slightly.

It’s because he’s tall and has a nice voice and that’s _it_.

She, Finn, and Rose all file into the conference room along with the rest of the staff. She adjusts her blouse, one of the few nicer shirts she owns, and settles into one of the uncomfortable stiff-backed chairs that line the table.

And then Poe Dameron walks into the room.

Rey and Finn exchange a quizzical look and Rose pulls out a notepad and pen, prepared to take notes. 

“Good morning!” Poe says cheerfully, taking the empty spot at the head of the table. He glances around the room, taking note of everyone here. He’s dressed nicely, but a touch more casual then he was at the Christmas party. His curls fall nicely across his forehead and it looks as if he hasn’t shaven in a couple of days. He looks fantastic, and when Rey glances quickly at Finn she’s pleased to see that he’s sitting up straight and smiling slightly in Poe’s direction.

Both men seem to catch each other’s eye at the same moment. Both of their smiles deepen.

Rey looks down at her lap and smirks at her clutched hands.

“I’m fairly certain I met everyone at the Christmas Party, but if I didn’t well, I’m Poe Dameron. Your new art director. Now, I’m sure you guys are nervous about the potential of upcoming changes, given Luke’s departure. But I assure you that Solo and I wouldn’t have come onto this magazine if we weren’t fans of the material the magazine is putting out—”

“Dameron.”

Poe stills in mid-sentence, looking at the woman who has interrupted him with mild surprise.

Amilyn Holdo was one of Luke’s closet confidantes back when he was editor-in-chief of the magazine, and, now that Luke is gone, arguably at the top of the totem poll when it comes to office hierarchy. She’s also the oldest person working at the magazine. It figures that she’s the one ballsy enough to cut Poe off in the middle of his opening speech.

“Holdo.” Poe blinks, still looking a tad startled. “What can I help you with?”

Holdo smiles at him. It would be a lie to call it friendly. Holdo might have lavender hair, might favor long flowy dresses, might have tattoos of sunflowers and ladybugs, and might burn incense in her office sometimes, but she’s easily the smartest and most formidable person in the entire room.

Rey practically worships her.

“I was just wondering where our new editor-in-chief is, considering he’s the one that organized this staff wide meeting in the first place.” Holdo twirls a pen around in the fingers of her right hand, smiling softly at Poe from the seat to his left. “Is everything alright?”

It’s so silent in the conference room one could hear a pin drop. Rey leans forward a little, careful not to miss a single detail of what’s going on.

Office drama is always juicy. Always.

Poe smiles back at Holdo, but it’s tight. As if he’s trying greatly to conceal his irritation. “Solo will be coming into the office after lunch. He’s sorry he’s not able to make it, but I believe he left the meeting in capable hands, yes?” Then, before Holdo can give him a response, he claps his hands together. “Now, let’s get started.”

**

Rey leaves the conference room with the rest of the staff nearly two hours later.

“A complete redesign of the magazine. This is going to be insane.” Finn is simply spouting off at the mouth, brain stuffed so full of new ideas that his thoughts are probably bouncing around a mile a minute. Rey can relate because she feels the same.

“Well, it _was_ beginning to look a little dated. Don’t tell Luke I ever said that. Something more eye-catching means more magazines are going to sell.” Rey is actually kind of excited about this. And maybe it’s because Poe had delivered the news with such genuine enthusiasm, and maybe it’s because the blueprints and new designs he’d already had drawn up to show them looked pretty great but… Rey is actually feeling really good about this change so far. At least, she’s finally beginning to feel like Luke left the magazine with people who might truly know what they’re doing.

She wonders how much work Ben Solo actually put into the meeting, or if it was all just Poe. Rey huffs at the thought. Solo seems like the type of guy to let his underlings do all the real labor for him.

She and Finn pause at their neighboring cubicles, and Rey is just about to ask Finn if he wants to run out and grab lunch together when he jerks his thumb over his shoulder, looking nervous.

“I’m, uh, going to ask Dameron some questions. About work and the magazine, of course.”

Rey presses her lips together to keep from outright grinning. “Of course.”

Finn walks purposefully past her, nearly bumping into Rose in the process.

Rose looks haggard. As a photo editor, a redesign of the magazine is a much bigger deal to her then it is to Rey. She quickly steps out of Finn’s way and then stops when she sees Rey, casting her a desperate look. 

“Food?” she asks, clutching the notepad she’d brought into the meeting to her chest. “And coffee, maybe?”

“Yes.” Rey nods and places a comforting hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Let’s go get food and coffee.”

**

Ben Solo is at the office before everyone else for the rest of the week. He’s also still there when the last employees are trickling home at the end of the day, Rey notes. 

And yet most of the time he keeps his office door closed off from everyone, only coming out to visit the breakroom or to call certain individuals inside for a chat one at a time.

These private one-on-one sessions with new editor-in-chief Ben Solo soon become infamous amongst the entire staff. By the end of the week nearly everyone is openly grumbling about him.

“He said my graphic skills were amateur,” Rose had seethed on Wednesday after her meeting with Solo. “I have a _degree!_ ”

And poor Finn, who wasn’t called into Solo’s office until late Thursday afternoon, comes to Rey’s cubicle afterward with a stricken expression. “Damn, that dude is an _ass_. You’d think I was the worst, most offensive employee in the world given the way he spoke to me.”

This makes Rey’s blood boil. Finn has been her best friend, her only real family in this entire world, since they were seven and had ended up in the same foster home. They’d been distraught when they were eventually separated, both thankfully ending up in the same elementary school. Rey had called him ‘Finny’ until she was fourteen.  


No one is horrible to Finn without gaining her instant hatred.

Fuming, she gives Finn some candy to cheer him up and waits impatiently for her own special meeting with Ben Solo. She has a few things she’d like to say.

Except… Except Solo never actually calls her into his office.

**

By the time the third week under new management rolls around everyone is beginning to settle down. Rey feels comfortable enough to start showing up to the office in t-shirts and jeans and the hallways once again begin to smell of Holdo’s incense. And, although everyone agrees that Solo is a massive asshole and honestly _what was Luke thinking_ —at least he hasn’t fired anyone. Or properly screamed at anyone. Or broken anything. Because, according to Finn and his impressive internet stalking skills, that was something that Ben Solo did a lot during his time at First Order Publications. Rey wonders what changed.

It’s pushing toward the end of January and Rey and Rose are sitting in the breakroom, eating homemade lunches and chatting about their weekend plans.

Rey knows the exact moment that Solo enters the breakroom. It’s like her whole body stills in anticipation, although anticipation for _what_ , exactly, Rey isn’t sure.

He walks over to the Keurig machine, debatably the most beloved thing in this entire office, and begins to make himself a mug of coffee.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come by sometime this weekend and keep you company?” Rose asks, picking at what’s left of her chicken salad sandwich. “I don’t know how you can stand to be alone for that long of a time.”

Rey shrugs. “I’ll be fine. Honestly, I kind of relish the alone time. It’s rare that I get to spend quality time like that with myself. You know, I actually end up getting a lot of things done when Finn goes away for weekends, such as—” Rey begins to tick off a list of chores she plans to do while she has the house to herself, like vacuuming and doing a deep clean of the kitchen. “It also means I can drink wine and dance through my living room naked. Don’t tell me that’s not one of your favorite things to do.”

Rose snorts. “I live with my sister, so.”

Rey giggles and begins to discuss the best wine and music combo for naked dancing when, out of the corner of her eye, she notices Solo sluggishly taking his freshly poured coffee and placing it down on the countertop. He reaches for a lone packet of sugar with almost exaggerated slowness. Even after he dumps in the sugar and stirs it into the black coffee, he lingers.

As if he’s listening in to Rey and Rose’s conversation.

It causes Rey to trail off and lose track off what she’s saying, but only briefly.

“The best way to round out a naked wine dancing party is with pizza,” she states, finally gathering her thoughts. 

Rose begins to collect the trash from her and Rey’s lunches. “I hope you don’t answer the door for the pizzaman naked.”

Rey grins. “Well, no. Wouldn’t want to blind the poor guy.”

There’s a quiet huff from the corner of the breakroom that could have only come from Solo. He turns, mug clutched in one large hand and, head down, makes his way out of the break room at a meandering pace.

Rey raises an eyebrow at Rose after he’s left. “I’m pretty sure he was listening in on our conversation.”

Rose stands and tosses the remnants of their lunch into the trashcan. “Well, you _were_ talking about dancing around naked.”

**

At the end of that day Rey is feeling brazen. Probably more brazen then she should, but…

Something about Solo… Something about Solo being a dick to Finn and Rose, not bothering to have a meeting with Rey despite having a meeting with literally everyone else, and then very obviously eavesdropping on her conversation with Rose has Rey eyeing his office door as she packs up her things to leave at the end of that day.

It’s actually open, for once.

As Rey makes her way past it on her way out of the office, she can’t resist poking her head in. “Solo?”

He looks up from his computer, eyes already growing wide at the sight of her. He visibly swallows. “Rey.” He leans back in his chair and stares up at her, knee bouncing up and down.

“You agree with me, right? About earlier? About the best ways to spend alone time?”

She half expects him to snap at her, to reprimand her. In fact she hopes he has something sharp to say because she’d _love_ to—

Instead he hums in the back of his throat. “I find the cheap stuff in the kangaroo bottle and Fiona Apple to be a pretty good combo.”

They’re both a little shocked by her laugh.

Rey quickly presses her lips together after her outburst. His gaze on her is making the skin under the collar of her shirt feel hot. She hadn’t thought he’d take her teasing with aplomb like that. She slides a step back and begins to lift her hand in an awkward wave.

“Oh, Rey!” Poe walks right up to her, a handful of folders tucked against his side. “I’m glad I caught you before you left. I was reading over your draft, the one about Star Wars actually being fantasy and not science fiction and I’m kind of obsessed with it.” He glances into Solo’s office to confirm that Ben is paying attention, then addresses him. “I’m going to have her send it to you tonight.”

Rey begins shaking her head profusely. “Oh, that’s okay. It’s not ready yet. It’s still in the early stages and needs serious editing—”

In her haste to get out of sharing her work with a man who’d openly trashed one of her best articles, she missed the way Solo had sat up in his chair with interest at the mention of her writing. Now he’s slumped back down in slight rejection at her words.

Poe’s eyebrows furrow a little. “No, it’s excellent. Send it to him.” He smiles, pats her on the shoulder and walks around her, heading to his own office.

It takes Rey a moment to glance back over at Solo. “Have a good weekend. I’ll send you the piece as soon as I’m home.” Her voice is clipped and she refuses to meet his eyes as she steps back. “Hopefully this won’t be garbage to you, hmm?”

She doesn’t see the way his face falls as she turns and walks away.

**

Rey is naked and with a glass of wine in hand when she sends the article to him four hours later, having read it and reread it and edited it to hell and back again. And she is _not_ listening to Fiona Apple.

Okay, she is.

And Solo was right, damnit.

He emails her back barely half an hour later. The first line is this: _I quite liked it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter didn’t go remotely the way I originally planned. Actually rereading Pride and Prejudice means I’m finding things I hadn’t planned on incorporating and going “Oh! That’d be fun to do!” Which means this fic is probably going to be a lot longer then I thought. Kill me.
> 
> Anyway sorry that Boring Chapter is Boring but someone gets sick and stuck at Poe’s house next chapter, yes? *taps fingertips together in glee* Also have I mentioned there’s gonna be a lot of porn in this fic? Because that’s where we’ll _definitely_ be divulging from the book, so please don’t think this fic is going to be boring. Please please please
> 
> Once again, thank you so much to everyone who has left comments thus far! I so love and appreciate everything you guys have to say! Love y’all.
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_)!
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	4. "She really looked almost wild."

You never know where some people will go  
Yeah some people been hurtin' me  
You can tell by look, by the slightest crook  
In the neck or the blink of an eye

“Constant Conversations” by Passion Pit

**

It’s a drizzly Friday evening in mid-February and Rey is stuffing her face with salted caramel popcorn and watching episodes Kimi Schmidt on Netflix in old pajamas, Trooper passed out asleep in her lap.

Finn is out with Poe.

Finn is out with Poe, and Rey checks her phone every ten minutes to see if she’s gotten a new text from him. He’s been sending her updates throughout the evening. He and Poe are supposed to be on a “friendly, work-related dinner”. Rey had snorted at that. If they’re not dating and in love by summertime then Rey will eat her own fist.

She chuckles at something Titus says from the TV, the wind and rain howling outside. It’s nearly midnight. Lightning flashes over and over, lighting up the night sky.  
Rey frowns, checks her phone for the umpteenth time. She didn’t think Finn was going to be getting home this late and he hasn’t texted her in over an hour.

She worries her bottom lip and scratches absentmindedly behind Trooper’s ears. The white cat shifts in his sleep, purr growing deeper. And then her phone starts ringing.

Rey glances at the screen and sees Poe Dameron calling and squeaks, startling Trooper and sending him careening from her lap. He trots to the other side of the living room and flicks his puffy white tail, glaring at her over his shoulder.

Rey swipes over the phone screen and hurriedly brings her phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Rey.” There’s a round of coughing and a groan. She realizes with a jolt that it’s her roommate on the other line.

“Finn! Is everything okay? Why are you calling from Poe’s—”

Another groan effectively cuts her off. “Rey, listen, it might take me a second to get this out but—”

There’s a hurling noise, followed by a deeply unpleasant splattering sound. Rey winces, already knowing where this conversation is headed. “You ate seafood, didn’t you?”

“it was the special and it was _fried_ and it looked so good.” Finn’s voice is weak and he’s words are coming out in gasps. “Trust me, Rey, I already know what you’re going to say.”

Rey shakes her head and says to Trooper, who is still glaring at her, “Your dad is an idiot.”

“Don’t admonish me in front of my own cat. He judges me enough— _Shit_.” 

More unpleasant noises.

“Anyway.” Finn sounds even weaker than before and distinctly more miserable. “I’m in Poe’s bathroom now. He says I can stay here for the night so that’s what I’m…” He pauses to burp. “That’s what I’m gonna do.”

Rey sighs into the phone, already getting to her feet and flinging her blanket away from her body. She carries the nearly empty bowl of popcorn into the kitchen. “Don’t be silly. I’ll come get you.”

“Aw, Rey, you don’t have to—”

“Send me Poe’s address, please,” Rey says in her most no-nonsense tone. “This is nonnegotiable.”

Finn has been in Rey’s life long enough by now to know not to argue with her about something like this. “I’ll text it to you,” he gasps, then abruptly hangs up. Probably to spare Rey from more puking sounds, for which she is grateful.

Rey throws on the first pair of jeans she sees and a worn, soft hoodie over the grubby, cat hair covered lounge shirt she’d been wearing. Her hair is already pulled back as she had been too lazy to take it down after work, so she simply grabs her car keys and bag and heads out the front door.

**

Rey’s mood has soured slightly by the time she makes it into the part of Atlanta that Poe apparently lives in. Finn didn’t mention that Poe’s place is in fucking _north Buckhead_. She had pegged him for an apartment-in-Midtown-type, not an $800,000-house-in-one-of-the-ritziest-neighborhoods-in-Atlanta-type. Old money lives here.

Which is laughably _not_ Rey and Finn. Some of the houses in this neighborhood have _gates_.

But thankfully not Poe’s. Rey finds his house well enough when she pulls onto the correct street, thanks to the bright white paint on the mailbox. The storm has gotten worse since she left her and Finn’s little townhouse on the outskirts of the city, making visibility difficult.

Rey stops the car by the driveway and peers out the window. She can make out the house, sitting nice and cozy on top of a small hill. And Rey just doesn’t feel like maneuvering her shit car up it. She really needs to get all her tires replaced but hasn’t been able to scrape together the extra funds.

So, sighing dejectedly, she parks on the street at the bottom of the driveway and gets out of the car, slamming her door behind her. The rain is coming down so hard that she’s pretty soaked after only a few steps. So, instead of trying to sprint up the water-slick driveway in near darkness, she holds her bag close to her body and starts walking at a steady pace up toward the front door. The light for the porch turns on as Rey nears it, and a second later Poe steps out and beckons her forward.

“Hurry up, Rey! You’ll get soaked!”

Rey laughs and shrugs her shoulders at Poe as she closes in on the steps to the porch. “I’m already soaked,” she calls out, holding up her sopping wet sleeves as proof.  


Poe gestures her inside and quickly closes the door behind her, eyes widening at her sodden appearance. “Let me grab you a towel.” Then he all but sprints down a darkened corridor to the left, toward what Rey can only assume is the bathroom.

She wonders if it’s the same bathroom that Finn is cooped up in, poor guy.

Rey takes a second to glance around the entryway she’s standing in, which widens and leads into sprawling living room with comfortable couches and armchairs. A fancy flat screen TV sits mounted on the wall above the fireplace.

There’s an uncomfortable cough from one of the cushy looking armchairs, causing Rey to jump.

“Sorry,” a familiar voice calls out. “I was trying to make a noise so as _not_ to scare you.”

Rey squints and takes a couple of steps forward, finally making out none other then Ben Solo, sitting in the darkened living room with a bottle of beer in one hand. She lifts an eyebrow at him. “You and Poe having a sleepover?”

Then Solo raises an eyebrow at _her_ , causing Rey to smirk a little.

Poe comes out from the spacious hallway, carrying a thick towel and followed by the oldest, fattest orange tabby cat Rey has ever seen. She blinks down at the fluffy creature, taking the towel from Dameron with a grateful smile.

“What’s his name?” She nods her head toward the cat and peels off her hoodie, now heavy with rainwater. Poe quickly takes it from her before it can slap onto the floor.

“His name is BB-8. I’ve had him since I was fifteen. He’s an old man now.” Poe smiles down fondly at the cat, who sits on his chubby haunches and begins nonchalantly licking a paw. “Still has days where he’s spry, though.”

“Don’t let the whiskers fool you,” Solo says from his armchair. “He’s the devil personified.”

Poe chuckles and points to where Rey can put her shoes. “BB-8 hates Ben,” Poe explains, a smile in his voice.

Rey shoots Solo a look over her shoulder. “Perhaps he just has a good judge of character.”

Solo looks like he wants to frown, but Rey breaks the sudden tension by laughing and crouching down to stroke along the cat’s spine, causing him to arch happily. She stands and grins at something Poe says, pulling her soaking wet hair out of her buns and running the towel through the strands in order to help dry them.

Rey squeeze the excess water from the ends and then finger combs her hair in order to get out most of the tangles. Then she’s arranging it just so, until it’s framing her face and falling against her neck in an acceptable fashion.

She nods at Poe, who is giving a play by play of how, exactly, Finn got sick, when she glances briefly at Solo.

He’s openly staring at her, beer bottle poised halfway to his mouth, looking stricken. As if the storm has crept its way inside the house and given him a lightning strike.

Rey nearly says something, but he clears his throat and takes a hasty sip of his drink, eyes swiveling away from her and fixating on the floor determinedly.

There’s a brush of fingertips along her exposed elbow and Rey turns back to Poe expectantly. He begins making his way toward the hallway, and Rey follows him.

“It was really nice of you to come over, but I like to think Finn is in good hands here,” Poe says, turning on lights. Rey, now that she can properly see, gapes at how high the ceiling is.

She snaps her mouth shut, willing herself not to look like a goldfish. “I’m sure. I just hate not being with Finn when he’s sick. I like to be the one to take care of him. I know it’s weird.”

Finn had gotten pneumonia when he was eleven and had nearly died. And ever since then… Well, Rey doesn’t need to explain herself to anyone.

Poe opens up the door to what Rey assumes is the guest bathroom, revealing a haggard looking Finn who is on his knees in front of the toilet.

“Rey-Rey, you didn’t have to.” He uses his pet name for her, which means he _really_ doesn’t feel good. She instantly goes into care-taker mode, grabbing a washcloth and wetting it so that she can dab Finn’s sweaty face.

He moans and flushes whatever is in the toilet away and out of sight. Not that it matters. He’s sick again in just a few minutes.

**

It’s 2:30am when Rey finally slumps down in an armchair opposite Solo. There’s vomit on the hem of her jeans but at this moment she simply doesn’t care.

Solo watches her for a moment before clearing his throat. He’s still sipping on a beer. In fact, Rey is fairly surprised to see that he’s still awake, and at his friend’s house, this late. Even Poe had gone to bed an hour or so ago. “Is Finn feeling better?” he asks, shifting in his chair slightly so that he’s angled closer to her.

Rey rubs at her right temple. “Well, he’s asleep. So there’s that.”

In the end she’d given him a pillow and a blanket and had helped him find a semi-comfortable position in the bathtub.

“Food poisoning?”

Rey sighs, eyes beginning to feel heavy. “Seafood doesn’t always agree with him.”

“Then why did he eat any?”

Rey presses her lips together, feeling an irrational amount of irritation swell up inside of her chest. Solo is probably just being curious, but the _way_ he asked, as if Finn is truly stupid, makes her want to lean over and smack that beer bottle out of his hand.

She eyes him. His hair is tousled and he’s watching her expectantly.

“Finn just really loves seafood,” she grumbles. In truth, her roommate had probably just been having a great time at dinner with Poe and felt confident and untouchable. He’d probably been metaphorically laughing in the face of food poisoning, daring it to try him. 

Rey sighs again.

And then Solo somewhat surprises her. He leans forward and taps her hand, which is clutching the arm of her chair, with the top of his beer bottle. “Do you want a drink?”

**

Poe has good whiskey.

Since Rey is planning on catching a few hours of sleep in the guest bedroom and then going home in the morning with Finn, she urges Solo to be generous as he pours.

He slides the glass over to her across the kitchen island and she snatches it up, quickly bringing it to her mouth and sipping. Poe’s kitchen is absurdly huge and filled with fun looking appliances that Rey would love to experiment with. She’s not a fabulous cook like Rose, but she likes to think she knows her way around the kitchen well enough.

Finn always compliments her meals, anyway.

Poe’s countertops still shine, still scream out _new_. She wonders how much cooking he’s actually done in his own kitchen since he moved in.

Eventually her eyes make their way back to the hulking man standing only a few feet away from her. Ben seems less interested in his whiskey and more interested in staring a hole into her face.

Rey swallows and lowers the glass, cradling it against her chest and relishing the burn that slips down her throat and into her stomach. For the first time since she’s come through the front door soaked to the bone, she finally feels warm.

“So…” 

And now she’s _too_ warm, because her neck is beginning to heat up from the way Solo is still watching her, as if she’s the most fascinating thing in this entire bloody house. 

Maybe he’s drunk?

“So,” Rey begins again, this time aiming to sound more confident and less breathy. “Why are _you_ here?”

“I was working,” Solo answers immediately, still not taking his eyes from her.

She lets out a slight huff of a laugh through her nose and brings her glass back up to take a sip. “Don’t you have your own place to do that? Or an office?” 

Solo finally looks away from her and Rey finds herself a little more burdened because of it. “I do,” is all he says.

Rey waits expectantly for him to say more, but apparently by mentioning his own place they’ve come across a wall of a subject that Solo is unwilling to climb over.  
Rey quirks an eyebrow at him but doesn’t push. “Well, did you succeed?”

His gaze whips back to her and she finds herself standing a little straighter. “Succeed in what?”

“In getting some work done.”

“Oh,” he blinks at her, glances down at his own drink. 

Is he nervous? 

The idea seems silly. “I did, actually.”

Rey opens her mouth to congratulate him and perhaps she’ll be slightly sarcastic while she does so—

“I’m making you Social Media Coordinator. Half of your work time is currently being wasted on administrative duties.”

It takes Rey several moments to process what, exactly, has just come out of her boss’s mouth.

And that’s when it hits her that, oh right, Solo is her _boss_. She’s standing in her coworker’s kitchen, hair wild and with puke on her clothes, drinking whiskey with her _boss_.

This fact should bother her more. This isn’t exactly a professional environment for them to be discussing work business.

And yet, she’s pretty sure he just gave her a promotion. Kind of.

She finally finds her voice. “But that’s Tallie’s job.”

Solo scoffs. “Tallie is shit at running the social media accounts. Her jokes aren’t funny.” He speaks the harsh words too casually for Rey’s liking. Tallie is one of the sweetest people at the entire magazine and doesn’t deserve to be spoken about like this.

Rey frowns. “But Tallie loves what she does—”

“You’ll be better at it then her.” Solo’s tone has taken on a slight edge, brokering no room for argument.

It only makes Rey bristle.

“Tallie can take on your administrative duties.” Solo moves a step around the kitchen-island, moving in Rey’s direction. She incorrectly presumes that he’s attempting to intimidate her with his height and stature. “I won’t dock her pay, although I think I’m going to move her out of that hallway office.” He looks at her funny, tilts his head. He opens his mouth, steeling himself to say something else—

Rey downs the rest of her whiskey in two large, burning swallows and slams the glass back down on the top of the island. Her scowl takes Solo by surprise.

“Well, aren’t you just a _saint_ , Solo. Demoting one of your most loyal employees and evicting from her own private office. But at least you’re going to keep paying her the same measly salary, hmm?” Rey turns, fully prepared to march out of the kitchen. And maybe there will be some dramatic flare to her stomping. Whiskey always goes to her head pretty quickly.

Solo moves fast. Before she can take a few feet toward the kitchen exit he’s in front of her, mirroring her ugly look. “I’m giving you more responsibilities and basically promoting you and you’re _insulting_ me?” He sounds more surprised then furious, but his eyes are dark.

Solo is so close now that Rey picks up on his scent. He smells like expensive cologne and a twinge of sweat, mixed with something distinctly masculine. Her alcohol addled brain, which had been working on a brutal retort to his last comment, comes grinding to a halt.

Maybe she wants to sleep with him?

And then her brain is working again, but sluggishly slow. It’s obviously torn between logic and tipsy-girl hormones because it keeps making suggestions like _rudely tell him you don’t appreciate his actions this evening_ and _ask him to fuck you on the kitchen-island._

Eventually Rey just moseys her way around his form, offering up a small “goodnight”.

His hand brushes against her arm, but he doesn’t stop her. “Rey—”

“I said…” And now Rey just sounds exhausted. “I said _goodnight_ , Ben.”

The feel of his touch on her skin lingers longer then the taste of whiskey still coating her tongue.

**

Rey and Finn are in the McDonald’s drive-thru for cheap coffee at 8am the next morning. Finn is slumped against the passenger door, sunglasses perched on his face. “Oh, so I need to tell you something that happened last night before I began vomiting up everything inside of my body.”

His voice is raspy and raw, but he’s clearly pleased.

Rey, already having a feeling of what he’s about to tell her, doesn’t attempt to suppress her grin. “Oh?”

Finn’s returning smile makes her heart melt with happiness for her friend. “Last night Poe kissed me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s up friends! I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter up. I’ve been super busy, plus I no longer have my Writing Chair and am currently scraping together the extra funds to get a new one. I also kinda needed to work out some kinks in the plot of this story. I’m winging it a bit more for this story then I have other writing projects in the past, which is actually purposeful since a breezier, more fun tone is my goal for the vibe of this fic anyway. We’re all here for a good time. Anyway, I quite like this chapter and hope you guys did too. I have some fun surprises coming up that I can’t what to share with y’all!
> 
> Thank you everyone for leaving your support! I so love hearing what y’all have to say, and your fun theories. Thank you so much for all the love. Y’all are the best, as per usual ;)
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_). Hit me up on there if you have a question or just want to say hello!
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	5. "Such is vanity and pride."

Now you've got me so confused  
'Cause I don't know how to sing your blues  
Jesus Christ, what could I do?  
I don't know how to sing your blues

“Electric Blue” by Arcade Fire

**  
It finally happens a week after Finn’s vomiting incident at Poe’s.

Someone quits in a hurricane of swearing and shouting.

It had been an otherwise boring Tuesday, and Rey is in the process of editing a review of the latest episode of _Atlanta_ when it goes down. Snap had been Luke’s assistant for years, and when Luke left the magazine at the beginning of the year Snap had simply switched to being both Poe and Ben’s joint assistant.

Snap’s grumblings about his job had been growing in recent weeks, but no one in the office could have guessed that he would well, _snap_.

“I hope you get reamed up the ass by a fucking fire poker you psychopath!”

Every cubicle in the entire floor goes silent. Rey instantly rises to her feet, Finn and Rose doing the same in the tiny cubicles beside her. Snap is storming out of Solo’s office, loosening his tie with a red face.

Solo strides out of his office after him, tips of his ears flushed with his fury. “Mr.—”

Snap whirls around and makes as if to shove Solo in the chest before visibly thinking better of it. Solo is nearly a foot taller then him, after all. “Fuck off, Solo!” he resorts to shouting, spittle flying out between his lips. Solo jerks back, mouth shutting and then curling with obvious disgust.

“Get the hell out, then.” Solo’s hands slide into the pockets of his slacks and Rey shivers at how low and commandeering his voice is. If she were Snap, she’d be trying to put as much space between the two of them as possible.

Snap seems to be having similar thoughts. He turns quickly and marches the rest of the way out of the building, head held high despite the fact that he is now jobless.

Solo watches him leave, eyes narrowing slightly as his now ex-assistant lets the door slam behind him. Then he turns, eyes briefly catching Rey’s before, scowling, he struts back into his office, shutting the door closed firmly.

Everyone begins speaking to their neighbors at once.

“Holy _shit_ ,” Finn breathes out, giving Rey a look of sheer awe.

Rey returns it. “I didn’t realize he’d reached his breaking point like that.”

Rose clears her throat, causing both Rey and Finn to fixate their attention on her. Rose leans toward them, keeping her voice low. “Snap asked me last week if he could use me as a reference for job applications, but I didn’t actually think he would leave. He’s been working here for _years_.”

“Well, he’ll never work here again with that display.” Rey looks back over to the closed door of Solo’s office. The logical part of her knows that it really had been only a matter of time before someone quits in a rage. Solo has not been the most _agreeable_ boss to work for up until this point.

Finn nods in agreement, and all three of them decide it’s ample time to grab a snack from the break room. Once there they, along with about ten other coworkers who have also decided that now is the perfect time for a snack, gossip with great enthusiasm about what just occurred.

**

Rey is one of the last couple of employees to leave the office that evening.

She’d been planning on simply turning off her monitor, pushing her chair underneath her desk, and then walking out of the office after waving goodbye to Holdo. That’s it.

But for some reason her feet start leading her to Solo’s office, where she knocks timidly on the solid wooden door.

There’s a gruff “come in”, and she turns the doorknob and sticks her head in, suddenly feeling a little anxious.

At some point during the day Solo has taken off his tie and undone the top few buttons of his dress shirt. Rey can’t help but be momentarily distracted by the pale skin of his throat. Any kind of prolonged kissing or sucking over that area of flesh would show right up on his skin, wouldn’t it?

It takes her a second to notice that Solo is watching her with a raised eyebrow.

Rey blinks at him stupidly before remembering why she’d knocked on his office door in the first place. 

“Did you want me to update our social medias about looking for a new assistant? I wasn’t sure if you’d deem that appropriate…”

The look he’s giving her is odd and Rey finds herself trailing off. In truth, that wasn’t why she’d knocked on his door. She’d knocked on his door because a part of her had wanted to hear his voice. And maybe a part of her wanted to see him, speak to him one on one for the first since their alcohol infused encounter in Poe’s kitchen the week prior.

God, she really needed to get a new vibrator or something. She couldn’t allow her own sudden horniness for this man to control her life.

Solo doesn’t smile at her, but Rey gets the distinct impression that he’s not displeased to see her. “I’ve already hired a new assistant, but thank you.”

Rey tilts her head. “No problem. Although who knows, Snap might come crawling through here tomorrow begging for his job back,” she jokes, feeling her mouth widen a little in a smile.

Solo shakes his head. “He’ll never work here again. _Ever_.” His voice is a little more serious then Rey would’ve liked, but the depth of it makes her tremble a little. “Once my good opinion is lost it’s lost forever.”

Rey can’t help the curious question that pops out of her mouth next. “So, you never give second chances?”

Solo shrugs one shoulder and glances away from her. “Lost forever, as I said.”

Rey can’t help but hop on this opportunity to tease him, especially since he’s put up with her humor toward him remarkably so far. She hopes it wins her a smile, anything other than the stern set to his face. “That doesn’t seem very fair, since you’re so dead set on hating everyone practically on sight.”

“And you’re dead set on leaving things woefully misunderstood.” Solo does smile, but there’s no real amusement in it. In fact, it seems to Rey that something seems more ironic to him then anything else. 

It makes her hackles suddenly rise. “Right. Have a good night, Solo.” She turns and begins to walk quickly away from him, speeding up a little when she hears the telling sound of Ben scrambling to get out of his swivel chair.

“Rey, wait!”

That voice of his wrapping around the syllable of her name is simply _unfair_. And it’s unfair that he still manages to look so obnoxiously handsome at the end of the work day when Rey turns back to engage him, his hair rumbled. It’s unfair that his brown eyes manage to look so beseeching, unfair how they so very obviously drift down to her mouth when he notices how she’s biting her bottom lip.

Yes, Rey most definitely wants to fuck her boss. She’ll probably think about him bending her over his desk when she’s alone in bed later.

“Hmm?” At least she manages to sound nonchalant. Her dignity is still intact. For the time being.

Solo falters for a second, as if he’d only called out to her to get her to stay a little longer and now has to search to come up with a proper reason. “Poe and I are throwing a party in a few weeks,” he blurts out.

Rey can’t keep the surprise out of her response. “Oh! Well, that should be, uh, fun. What kind of party?”

The tips of his cheeks turn red, as if Solo is deeply embarrassed with himself. “There’s no theme, we just want the office to be able to get together and have a good time. We know it’s been stressful, all this change.”

Rey nods and Solo takes a hesitant step toward her.

“Anyway,” he wrings his hands as he continues, suddenly nervous, “Of course you’re invited. I was actually hoping…” Solo falters here.

He falters and just stands there staring at her, as if he can’t quite get the rest of the sentence out of his mouth.

Rey’s brain is whirling because _is Solo trying to ask her to be his date—_

His cell phone goes off and he fishes it out of his back pocket. His shoulders sag a little, in relief or disappointment Rey isn’t sure. “I have to take this—”

But before he can say anything else Rey turns on her heel and exits the office quickly, mind trying to wrap around what the hell just happened.

**

“Maybe you should just sleep with him.” Finn is wearing a fizzing moisturizing face mask he got from the pharmacy. The mask is actually quite terrifying, making him look like he should be in a _Purge_ movie.

Rey glares at her best friend. “Somehow I feel like that would be counterproductive.”

At this Finn rolls his eyes. “Rey, you want to fuck Ben Solo. Badly.”

“And so what if I do?” Rey snaps. Finally admitting it out loud actually takes a little bit of weight off of her shoulders, but the situation remains the same. “There’s no way it would ever work. He’s my boss and an asshole at that.”

Finn nods in agreement. “Solo is absolutely an asshole and absolutely your boss. But you don’t have to have a real relationship with the guy. You just need to relieve the sexual tension that’s obviously flying between the two of you.”

Forgetting her common sense for a moment Rey feels a sudden spark of hope. “You think he wants to hook up with me too?”

Finn gives her a long, weighted look. “Rey-Rey I love you but you truly have no game.”

She grabs a couch pillow and smacks his shoulder with it, glowering. “Well, not all of us can put the moves on our boss by spending the night trapped, sick, in his bathroom.”

Finn holds his hand up in surrender. “Okay, I admit I got very lucky with Poe. But…” He sighs. “It’s not like anything has really happened since then. He kissed me and then…nothing.”

This isn’t the first time the two of them have discussed this, but Finn is clearly still feeling confused and upset about it. She pats his knee comfortingly before bringing the couch pillow back to her chest, cradling it against her body. “I don’t know, Finn. It’s was so busy at the office last week. And you know Dameron takes the magazine very seriously.”

Her roommate nods, not looking reassured. Then his phone pings and he picks it up immediately. His face breaks out in a sudden grin. “Well, speak of the devil.”

Rey feels a spark of sheer excitement for Finn. “It’s Poe?!”

He’s nodding enthusiastically. “He wants to know what my plans are for Friday night!”

The tone of the evening quickly shifts, which is perfectly fine with Rey. She’s really not ready to openly discuss the idea of casually sleeping with her boss.

Not yet, anyway.

**

The next Monday the majority of the office has already forgotten about the incident with Snap, despite the fact that it hasn’t even been a week.

But each employee is reminded as soon as they open up their work emails.

Rey scans over hers with growing interest.

_Dear team,_

_I’m pleased to introduce to Skywalker Magazine Mr. Armitage Hux, mine and Mr. Solo’s new assistant. He worked for us during our time at First Order publications and has already proven to be a competent, hardworking individual. His first day will be this Monday. Let’s all come together to make sure he feels welcomed in joining our team._

_Thanks,  
Poe Dameron_

Rey makes a mental note to find her new coworker and introduce herself before the end of the day.

**  
Except Hux introduces himself to Rey while she’s in the break room eating lunch. Solo leads him into the area, clearly giving him a tour of the office building. The two men already look completely bored and put out with one another’s company, and Rey wonders if that’s how their relationship has always been, given that they’ve worked with each other before.

Hux spots her and immediately makes his way over to her, gaze raking up and down her seated form. “Good afternoon, I’m Armitage Hux.” He holds out his hand and Rey slowly takes it, putting down her turkey sandwich in order to do so. He gives it a firm shake and just…doesn’t fucking let go after the shake is over.

“And you are…?” He gives her an eager look, hand still engulfing hers. She already dislikes this tall, redheaded man.

“Rey,” she says stiffly, finally, _finally_ managing to pull her hand out of his. 

She makes a point to rub her palm against her pants, noting with glee the slight look of offense that crosses Hux’s face.

Then Rey notices the dark look Solo is aiming at Hux’s back, as if the ginger has dared to tread on territory that Ben has already claimed for himself, at least mentally.

She thinks about Finn’s suggestion about relieving the tension between them.

Perhaps…perhaps Finn has a point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do y’all mean it’s been a month?? Ugh, I know that short chapter is short. I needed a bit of a bumper chapter so that I could ease myself back into this universe.
> 
> You’re right; I suck and I’m sorry :( I got distracted by other writing projects and then found myself in a depressive slump. But I’m actually quite excited for the next chapter! Plus I have a fun twist up my sleeve that I really cannot wait to reveal to you all. Thank you to everyone who is still following along with this story. You will not be waiting so long for the next update, I promise.
> 
> I have [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_) and [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	6. "You puzzle me exceedingly."

With tired eyes and bills to pay  
You gotta make it through another day  
The streets can see into your soul  
It ain't where ya been but where you're gonna go  
Put a flower in your pocket

“Put a Flower in Your Pocket” by The Arcs

**

It’s a Saturday, and Rey has literally just come home from the gym when Finn practically pounces on her.

He has a container of Lysol wipes in one hand and a broom in the other. “Don’t kill me—”

“Who did you invite over?” Rey asks, letting her gym bag drop to the floor and crossing her arms over her chest.

Finn pauses, briefly presses his lips together. “I asked Poe if he’d be interested in letting me help plan his party. And he said he was! So he’s coming over in…” He quickly checks the time on his phone. “Two hours.”

Rey grins knowingly at her roommate. “You hate planning events.”

Finn tilts his head back and forth. “True, but I _don’t_ hate the possibility of Poe kissing me again. Anyway, I’ve cleaned the kitchen and most of the living room.” He pauses and gives Rey a hopeful look. “Do you think you can clean the bathroom?”

Something about his tone makes Rey suspicious. “Why?”

“Because Trooper killed a cockroach and left its body in the bathroom sink.” He averts his eyes, expression sheepish. “And I don’t really want to touch it.”

Rey can’t help but let out a chuckle. “Fine… Coward.”

**

She’s scrubbing the toilet half an hour later when Finn pokes his head into the bathroom and says in one breath: “BenSoloiscomingovertoo.”

Rey shrieks.

**

She’s cleaned the bathroom, showered, and put on fresh clothes in record speed. She even carved out a block of time to dry her hair, a decision she’s not regretting as Finn opens their front door for Poe and Solo.

Her boss’s gaze finds her immediately.

Poe greets her and she returns it with a distracted smile. Then Finn pulls Dameron into a conversation and it’s just her and her boss.

“Hello, Rey.” Solo somehow manages to keep his eyes on her as he enters her and Finn’s living room.

She gives him a somewhat awkward wave from where she’s sitting on the couch, legs beneath her. “Solo,” she acknowledges, clearing her throat and then gesturing to a seat. “You can sit down if you want.”

His eyes flicker back and forth between Rey and the open seat beside her. Making a decision, he moves and sits down, taking a moment to get comfortable before stretching his long legs out in front of him. He exhales slowly, as if he’s just getting home from an exhausting day at work.

This is all very strange, Rey realizes. Because her asshole boss is in her house, sitting next to her—

And then Rey’s brain conjures up the image of her kneeling between Solo’s bent legs and blowing him.

She wonders if he’d make sounds while she sucked him off. Or if he’s one of those irritatingly quiet type of guys who’d rather bite through his own hand then moan. Rey is becoming more and more eager to find out.

She realizes she’s staring, then realizes that Solo is staring right back, and Rey can feel her face turning red because Solo’s pants fit him _very_ well and _god damnit_ he’s noticing her notice—

There’s a snapping noise as someone tries to get her attention and Rey sits up straight, knowing she’s been caught but still attempting innocence. She peers over at Finn with wide eyes. “What?”

Finn is smirking. “We’re putting the pizzas in the oven and then Poe and I are going to sit at the table to plan.”

Rey blinks dumbly, hyper aware of the heat coming off Ben Solo’s body. “Okay.”

Finn’s smirk widens and he and Poe head into the kitchen.

When she turns back to Solo she finds him still watching her intently. Hyper aware of the boring simplicity of her jeans and clean sweatshirt, she shifts, brings her legs out from underneath her. She brushes hair behind her ear. “Are you, uh, going to go sit with them?”

Solo blinks, as if he’s being roused from something. “Hmm? Oh, no. Poe can enlighten me on what’s important later.”

Rey hopes she keeps her confusion off of her face because—why is Solo here then, if not to help plan this party?

But Rey has always been a bright girl. She leans back a fraction, takes in the way Solo is still watching her as if she’s the most interesting thing in the room, takes in the way he’s seems to be hovering towards her, as if ready to close the space between them at the drop of a hat.

Rey knows exactly why Ben Solo has come over to her house, and it has nothing to do with Poe and their supposedly shared party.

Solo seems to have misinterpreted her silence and thoughtful frown as a negative reaction. He finally looks away from her, bringing his hand up to run through his hair. He gestures to the kitchen. “Did you want to go sit down?”

Rey decides she might as well make the best out of this situation. She ever so slightly scoots in Solo’s direction, just enough so that her outer thigh brushes against his. She hears his sharp intake of breath at the contact and smiles.

“Honestly? No. I don’t really care about that sort of thing. When Finn and I throw parties we just invite people, buy alcohol and pizza rolls, and hope that folks show.” She shrugs, then laughs at Solo’s vaguely stricken expression.

“My mother would be horrified,” he says, more to himself then her, but she nudges her leg against his anyway.

“Does your mother like to throw a lot of parties then?”

Solo snorts, and Rey is surprised to find it’s more bitter then anything else. “You could say that.” His voice is gruff, and Rey can’t help but briefly switch to the defensive. She hadn’t meant to probe at a sore spot.

But then Rey tilts her head, considers him for a moment. It occurs to her that perhaps Solo isn’t really an asshole so much as he has not-super-great social skills.  
  
She sniffs, ponders as she considers the next course of action. “Want to watch a movie while they collaborate?”

“Sure.” His answer is immediate, and if Solo had been trying to come off as casual and uninvested he has gloriously failed. 

She nods, tries not to smile too much at his eagerness. His actions are becoming more and more endearing.

Solo settles a little into his seat, stretches his arm out across the back of the couch to where, if he wanted, he could easily brush the back of Rey’s head with his wrist and hand.

It’s an age-old move and it works. Rey picks up the remote and turns on the TV, already knowing the perfect movie for them to watch, before letting her head rest back just far enough for there to be direct contact.

Tonight is going to be interesting.

**

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Rey is openly grinning at her petulant boss. He already looks like he wants to bolt from the room. She thanks all her lucky stars that her copy of _IT_ just happened to already be in her and Finn’s blu-ray player. 

“Can you blame me? You were such a dick about it the first time we spoke…” She trails off, realizing with a pang of horror that she’d just kind of sort of called her boss a name to his face.

He’s not bothered, however. At least, not by the inadvertent insult. “Please don’t make me waste two more hours of my time on this shitty movie.”

Rey scoffs. “You’re such a baby. Come on, we can watch the movie, you can point out all your grievances, and then I’ll tell you why all your opinions are wrong.”

Solo’s mouth opens and closes several times, as if he’s struggling coming up with a decent response to Rey’s bold statement. He finally huffs. “Fine.”

He’s already complaining five minutes into the film. “See, right off the bat this pisses me off. In the book, Georgie was dead and everyone knew. Like, the kid bled out in the street, they found his body, he was _dead_. But in this movie Pennywise takes his body into the sewers and poor fucking Bill and his whole family presume him to be missing. This is the kind of stuff about adaptions that irritate me. Why would you change a plot point that literally adds nothing to the overall conflict of the story? It makes no sense, just creates unnecessary drama. And this is a movie about a group of kids fighting a deity that’s the personification of evil. There’s already enough drama.”

Solo is breathing a little faster after his rant, and during said rant Rey made the observation that he adorably talks with his hands when he’s passionate about something.  
  
She’s pressing her lips together in a soft, secret sort of smile.

Solo frowns, thinking she’s making fun of him. “It’s unnecessary,” he repeats, as if further attempting to drive home his statement.

Rey lets the silence stretch for a moment before giggling and shrugging her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter in the long run, so who cares?”

His completely unimpressed reaction to her response has Rey letting out a howl of laughter. 

Solo’s whole faces softens.

**

Rey ends up having a lot of fun listening to Solo complain throughout the movie. She enjoys hearing his rants and then needling him with her dismissive and snappy rebuttals. When the credits roll and he points out that he doesn’t like the music, she gets the vibe that maybe he likes verbally sparring with her as just as much as she does.

After it’s done, Rey stands and stretches her arms up over her head, knowing full well that her sweatshirt will slip up and show several inches of her stomach. When she drops her arms, she notices Solo glancing away quickly. 

She bites her lip, wraps her arms around herself. She’s about to suggest going into the kitchen to sit with Finn and Poe when there’s the scrapping noise of chairs being pushed away from the table. 

Finn strides into the living room and begins to pull on his jacket. “Poe and I are going to go grab coffee real quick. Do you guys want to come along?”

Rey weights her options very, very briefly before pouncing on the idea of being completely, deliciously alone with Solo for twenty minutes. She shakes her head. “I’m fine, but thanks.”

Solo says the same.

Finn winks at her before strutting out the front door, Dameron right behind him.

When the door shuts behind them the atmosphere feels overwhelmingly tense. But not in a nervous, fearful way. In an excitable, unknown kind of way.

Solo is watching her again, and when their eyes make contact he opens and closes his mouth, as if he desperately wants to say something but is having trouble finding the words.

Rey suspects she knows what he’s trying to convey. _I don’t know if I find you agreeable, but I would really like to fuck you._

At least, that’s what Rey would like to say.

But she can’t quite convey it either. She jerks her head toward the kitchen, suddenly all jitters. “Did you want some pizza?”

Solo shakes his head, eyes still pinned to her own. “No.”

And Rey wonders what it would be like to just…walk right up to him and kiss him. Right now. It would be so simple and this tension between them would _finally_ release and maybe _other_ things would release too and—

Instead she lets out an unladylike cough and shoulders past her boss to walk into her tiny kitchen, grabbing a piece of now-cold pizza and shoving a massive bite into her mouth. She chooses not to sit, instead leaning against the countertop and chewing.

Moments later, Solo is leaning on the countertop beside her.

Rey glances at him from the corner of her eye before swallowing. His eyes flick down to her throat as it bobs with the action, and briefly she wonders what he’s thinking before filling in the dirty details for herself.

What to talk about? They probably only have about fifteen minutes left until Finn and Poe get back.

She asks him a question she’s been mulling over for a while. “Why did you leave New York City for here?”

Rey has caught Solo off guard with her inquiry; she can tell by the way his head jerks back a little bit and the nearly imperceptible widening of his eyes before he schools his features.

He crosses his arms over his chest and Rey thinks for a moment that he’s flat out not going to answer her. But then he exhales and shifts his large body so that he’s turned toward her.

“I worked at First Order Publications for years and the money was great, but my boss was the personification of Satan himself. I was happy to work for him at first. I sort of considered him to be a mentor of sorts. But he went behind my back and attempted to get me fired.”

Solo pauses here, clearly self-reflecting. “I probably would have deserved it. My boss was a hundred times worse then me, that’s for sure, but I was…not a great person to work with back then.”

_You’re not a great person to work with now._ But Rey wisely chooses not to interrupt.

“Actually, I wasn’t a great person in general. Anyway,” Solo continues, “I went out of my way and sort of…” he trails off, presses his fingertips together, contemplating. “Destroyed my boss’s career. Let certain files and emails slip that I knew would ruin him. And it did. And I don’t regret it because he deserved it, but I really just didn’t want to associate myself with that place anymore. So, I came here, and Dameron came with me because I left First Order Publications a certifiable dumpster fire. And also, because he’s my best friend.”

Rey’s eyes have gone wide and she stares up at him, intrigued but also apprehensive. “I hope you don’t ever gut _our_ magazine because of—”

Solo begins vehemently shaking his head, cutting her off. “No, I would never do that to you,” he insists.

The phrasing makes the breath whoosh from her lungs. Makes her want to take a step back but also move as close to him as she can get.

“Anyway, I could ask the same of you.”

Rey furrows her eyebrows, suddenly confused. “What?”

He gently nudges her shoulder with his own. “What brings you here to this city? What’s your story?”

Rey blinks, pleasantly surprised. She hadn’t been expecting him to be genuinely interested in learning about her. “I was born in Manchester.”

Ben’s lips part in surprise. Obviously that was not an answer he was expecting. “Like, in England?”

She nods. “My parents were junkies. I don’t remember any of my time over there, just that one day we were moving to the ‘busiest place in the world’, which, to the lady selling them their plane tickets, translated to the Atlanta airport. They were probably high when they were buying them.” Rey doesn’t normally tell people her origin story, but something about the way Solo is looking at her, with the honest desire to learn about her, that keeps her talking. 

“Looking back as an adult they must have stolen from their dealer or something. Otherwise I don’t see how they would have afforded the trip. And I have no idea how we made it through customs. My first real memory is of the plane ride over here.” Rey can feel a tightness forming in the back of her throat; that’s a good memory, a special memory. The only vaguely clear image she has of herself and her parents is of the three of them peering out the window of the airplane. She had crawled into her father’s lap and had taken in the horizon with wonder.

But she can’t tell Solo this. It’s not for him. Not just yet.

She clears her throat. “We lived in an apartment, I’m not sure where in the city exactly, but one day we went out for a drive. They parked and told me they’d be back for me, and then wandered into the Bluff of Atlanta. They didn’t come back out.”

“Holy shit,” he breathes, gazing down at her. “That’s…”

Rey shrugs her shoulders and plows forward with her story, not able to bear the weight of pity in Solo’s brown eyes. “To answer your question, I lost my accent ages ago. I had this awful redneck of a foster dad who would give me a smack whenever I’d pronounce something differently then him.” Rey smiles without humor. “Told me I lived in America now and needed to speak real English.” 

“What a fucking prick.”

The anger in Solo’s tone soothes Rey. She finds herself leaning into him, reveling in the way his body feels pressed against hers.

She nods in agreement. “He was awful. But I was six years old and didn’t want to get hit because he thought I talked funny.” Rey also remembers being teased by the other kids in her class for the way she would say things, but that’s another admission that isn’t for Solo just yet.

However, she’s amazed at how well of a listener he’s turned out to be.

“But then I met Finn and ended up working for Luke right out of high school. That was a few years ago”

For some reason this startles Solo. “Wait, how old are you?”

Rey laughs a little despite her confusion at his question. “Twenty-two. Why?”

He blinks down at her. “You just…seemed older.”

Rey tilts her head to the side as she appraises him. “How old are you, Solo?”

“Thirty-two.”

She lets out another laugh, unable to help it. Solo gives her an affronted look. “What?”

“Given the way you act I would have thought you were younger.”

She continues laughing at Solo’s expression as he clearly mulls over whether or not her statement is an insult.

Finn and Poe come through the front door a minute later and the two of them spring apart.

**

The next week is extremely strange for two reasons.

The first is, of course, Solo. After actually getting to know him a little bit and personal information, Rey can’t help but follow him around the office with her eyes whenever he comes into view. She notices that he’s doing the same thing.

Finn’s suggestion at her next course of action remains the same. “Sleeping together would probably be extremely helpful. Just sayin’.”

But Rey just can’t bring herself to take the first step of action. The situation between herself and Solo feels delicate, somehow. As if one wrong move will break the fragile trust that has slowly been building between them. 

And the second thing that has been strange all week: Hux.

On Monday he started walking by her cubicle every morning to greet her and offer coffee he’s picked up from some trendy coffee shop.

Rey politely says no every time he asks.

(She asked Poe when he was over on Saturday why exactly they’d hired Hux. He’d simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “He’s good at his job.” 

And Rey had to begrudgingly admit that that seems to be true.)

However, Hux’s duties do not include trying to woe Rey.

On Friday Rey can’t help but let some exasperation slip into her tone when she turns down a blueberry muffin from him for the third time. 

“I’ve already eaten but _thank you_ Hux. Can I get back to work now?” Her teeth are gritted.

The redhead fucking _bows_ to her before turning to Rose and giving her a stiff nod. “Miss Tico.”

Rose gives him an extremely half-hearted wave, barely acknowledging him. Hux stalks off and when he’s out of earshot Rose immediately leans over toward Rey.

“You know, if he quit slicking his hair back and stopped wearing those dumb suits he’d look significantly less stupid. Maybe cute, even.”

Rey groans and runs a hand down her face, giving her friend an incredulous look. “Rose, you can’t be serious. He’s an idiot.”

Rose shrugs, undeterred. “What? I’m not saying I’d touch him with a ten-foot pole or anything. But I’d be down for free coffee and blueberry muffins.”

**

Rey’s irritation with Hux comes to a head Friday afternoon.

Most everyone has left the office, but Rey has stayed behind as she has taken up doing as of late. She likes to think it’s because she’s a dedicated employee, but she can’t really kid herself.

It’s because of the brief one-on-one interactions she gets with Solo.

Rey has just slung her bag over her shoulder and is heading to where Solo’s office is, his door having opened some twenty minutes ago. She wonders if he’s opened it in the hopes that she’ll poke her head in and wish him a good weekend—

Hux steps into her path and she nearly runs into him, pulling herself to a stop with a huff of annoyance.

“Miss Johnson. I was hoping to have a word?”

“What is it, Hux?” Rey can barely keep her tone neutral, she’s so irritated.

“I’m assuming you saw the email concerning Solo and Dameron’s party.”

“I did.” _Like the rest of the office_. And then Rey feels horror wash over her body because suddenly she knows exactly what’s about to happen.

Hux nods. “I wanted you to know, Miss Johnson, that I’ve been a fan of your work since long before I came her to work at this magazine.”

Rey gets the feeling that this is pure bullshit but lets him continue.

“When I first met you, I was not expecting that the woman who’s work I so admired would also be gorgeous.”

It’s all Rey can do not to roll your eyes.

“You’re a dedicated and hardworking individual, Rey. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re one of the few employees here that stays past five. Your dedication to helping Tallie with the magazine’s new Twitter account is also admirable. What with Dameron and Solo’s party coming up soon, would you do me the great honor of attending as my date?”

Rey takes a few steps toward the door leading out of the office, willing to sacrifice speaking to Solo in order to get away from Hux. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m just not looking—”

“—for a relationship right now,” Hux interrupts. “That’s unsurprising. Of course a distinguished career woman such as yourself would be uninterested in having a romantic relationship with anyone at the moment. They’re distracting, and Hollywood overhypes the value of falling in love, I agree. But with your talent and my intelligence we would make a formidable team. And, if I do say so myself, you’ll find that I’m quite the generous—”

Rey begins shuffling backwards at a continuous pace. She’s so focused on escaping Hux that she misses the way Solo has come to stand in the doorframe of his office, furious eyes pinned on the ginger. “Listen—"

Hux interrupts her again and she nearly screams. 

“—I know that you probably don’t like that I asked you before you could ask me. I’m sure you don’t need a man to make the first move for you, being a strong, independent woman. But Miss Johnson, I hope you’re not offended, but you deserve to be treated like a lady and—”

“Jesus Christ, Hux, _I don’t want to fucking go out with you!_ ”

That finally shuts him up.

A muscle jumps in the ginger’s cheek. “Oh.”

And then there’s Solo, slowly moving to stand behind his assistant, looking every inch the foreboding boss. His gaze scans over Rey possessively before he moves to stand between the two of them.

Rey can’t quite bring herself to linger and see what’s about to transpire between the two men. Feeling annoyed and slightly embarrassed that her boss (and coincidentally the man she actually _does_ want to have sex with) heard Hux’s ridiculous proposal.

She turns and bolts to the door leading out of the magazine’s floor, ignoring Solo’s shout and letting it slam shut behind her. She opts for the stairs, not wanting to bother with the elevator.

The main level is only several flights down, and when she’s halfway through she hears a pair of heavy footsteps start echoing down the steps behind her.

Rey knows exactly who it is without bothering to turn around. She doesn’t slow down, instead keeping up her steady pace until she’s in the main lobby and outside of the building entirely.

Then she stops and whirls around, taking in Solo’s hulking form as he exits through the main doors and comes to stand in front of her.

His hair is falling into his eyes a little and he looks wild, eyes dark, and Rey can feel her heartbeat pounding in her own ears.

She blurts out her next words in order to avoid drowning in his intensity. “Are you glad I told him ‘no’—”

Solo cuts her off by cupping her face between his large hands and kissing her.

Right away any doubt that Rey might have had about him not wanting her flies out the window. Because his warm tongue presses at the seam of her lips and she immediately opens up to him, lets him deepen the kiss, lets him shift their stances so that he’s corralling her up against the outside wall of the building. He clutches at her hips and he’s been desperate for this, she realizes. Has wanted her for perhaps longer then she’s wanted him.

He finally breaks apart from her and, breathing hard, manages to press even closer to her. He leans his forehead against her own. “Yes, I’m glad you told him ‘no’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Hux is Mr. Collins, bless him. I also changed up the timeline of the main events ever so slightly, but I feel like y’all don’t mind ;)
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_).
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	7. All were struck with the stranger's air.

The look in your eyes is as sharp as a cold knife fighter, oh yeah  
Cutting me through, yeah the feeling is true  
I really wonder, oh yeah  
Give me a sign, tell me what should I do  
Say that you're mine and you're feeling it too

“Portuguese Knife Fight” by Cage the Elephant

**

When Rey tells Finn about the kiss that Friday evening he spits out the wine that he had been drinking.

“He _what?_ ” Her roommate sputters and starts coughing, eyes watering.

Rey can’t resist letting a mischievous smile spread across her face as she nods, confirming to Finn that he’d heard her correctly.

Setting his wine glass down on their battered coffee table, Finn takes a moment to stare at her before narrowing his eyes. “Then why the hell are you _here?_ ”

Grumbling, Rey crosses her eyes and frowns down at her lap. “He’s flying to Connecticut to visit his mother for the weekend.”

Finn winces on her behalf. “Wow. That’s pretty awful timing.”

Rey nods in agreement, bringing her own glass of wine to her mouth and draining what’s left. “You can say that again.”

**

In truth, Rey isn’t too upset with Ben for serving her the biggest cockblock of her life. The horrified look on his face when he’d told her he’d be out of town for the weekend had been comforting enough.

Plus, she’d taken all her pent-up sexual frustration and had finally gone out and purchased new batteries for her vibrator. Which she then used. Repeatedly.

And, on an insane whim, Rey had decided to inform Ben about this situation come Saturday evening.

His agonized replies had been deeply, deeply satisfying. They’d spent the rest of the evening messaging back and forth. First mostly just sexting, but then Rey randomly sends him a picture of Trooper curled up on top of her bedspread.

That had spurned a conversation about pets, then animals in general, and before she knew it they were texting late into the night about everything and nothing at all. And yet Rey can’t remember the last time she’s spent this long talking to someone about just…stuff. Just having a conversation for the sake of having a conversation.

She falls asleep after typing out ‘goodni—’ and then forgetting to hit ‘send’.

**

Ben doesn’t text her all throughout Sunday, however.

**

When Rey steps into the office on Monday morning she’s the most wide awake she’s ever felt. It’s as if every nerve ending inside her body is alight with jitters. She walks hurriedly to her cubicle and gives Rose a tight nod in greeting.

Her friend raises a suspicious eyebrow. “What’s up with you? Long weekend?”

Rey lets out a cough before clearing her throat and turning on her computer, attempting to come across as nonchalant.

Rose stands up and leans over their tiny, shared cubicle wall. “This has something to do with Solo, doesn’t it?”

Rey’s cheeks go pink, proclaiming her guilt. Rose smiles slyly. “Tell me over email?”

A few minutes later Rose is gasping in delight from her own swivel chair. “I _knew_ it.”

Rey laughs a little from her own seat, amused by Rose’s own amusement. She keeps her eyes to the front of the office, however. As soon as Solo walks through those doors she wants to _know_.

**

Rose texts her while she’s in the breakroom making coffee.

_**Solo and Poe just walked in. Both look really upset.** _

Rey bolts for the main hallway of their office floor, coffee momentarily forgotten. She earns a startled look from Holdo as she all but runs past the older woman’s office, hazel eyes darting all over the place on the lookout for—

She spots him having a heated conversation with Hux right outside of his personal office. Rey slows her steps, suddenly not wanting to bring too much attention to herself just yet. Rose had been right; Solo _definitely_ looks upset.

“I didn’t come all the way down to the fucking Bible Belt to deal with this type of bullshit again. You email them, or call them, I don’t give a _shit_ what you do—”

Rey attempts to walk by casually on her way back to her cubicle, feeling embarrassed at how she’d rushed over here to see Ben in the first place. Cheeks burning, she nearly makes it by unnoticed when Ben’s head suddenly whips in her direction. He stops talking entirely, eyes fixing themselves on Rey’s frame.

She stills and looks at him, taking in the dark circles under his eyes and the way his hair is more disheveled then normal. He clearly hasn’t gotten much sleep in the past twenty-four hours. She suspects whatever is bothering him is behind why he never reached out to her the day before.

Rey waits for him to say anything but after a beat of silence Solo clears his throat pointedly. “I’m having a private talk with Hux, Rey. We can speak later.”

His tone is too brisk and professional for her liking. She realizes that he is, of course, still her boss. And for all intents and purposes the fact that they even kissed, much less would like to do more, should be kept hidden from their coworkers for the time being.

But still. Rey bristles.

She nods sharply and immediately walks away, not bothering to look back at Solo from over her shoulder.

**

The good news is that Finn is just as invested in this drama as Rey is, albeit for slightly different purposes.

He’s taping away at his laptop, hunching over the keyboard a little. “What could possibly have all three of them—Solo, Hux, _and_ Poe—upset, if not for First Order Publications rearing their ugly head again?”

Rey has her arms up on the top of the wall that separates them, watching Finn do his reconnaissance with an irritated expression. “Well, whatever’s got their panties in a twist has kind of fucked over how I thought today was going to go.”

Finn pauses in his typing to give Rey a sly, knowing look. “And how _did_ you think today was going to go, Rey?”

She scowls at him and he snickers, attention turning back to the computer screen. After several seconds of clicking he frowns. “Their old boss, Snoke, is starting to pop back up in the New York headlines again.”

Rey feels her eyebrows pull together in confusion. “Solo told me he destroyed that man’s career.”

Finn shrugs. “All I’m seeing is that Snoke is trying to get back into the publishing industry again but… Looks like this article was published a couple of months ago, so who knows.”

A door slams and Rey jerks her attention away from her friend. Solo stalks out of his office and towards the break room, presumably to make coffee or grab something to eat. She trains her eyes on him, unable to help remembering the way he’d all but chased her down last Friday just to kiss her.

As if he can sense her gaze on him, Solo’s brown eyes find her own. Rey’s whole body seems to warm underneath the way he looks at her, and so lost is she in whatever _thing_ is currently going on between her and Solo that Rey misses the fact that Finn is still talking to her.

“—kind of looks like Paul Bettany—”

Then Solo looks away and breaks the spell.

**

By the time five ‘o’clock rolls around Rey still hasn’t heard anything from Ben. She _has_ heard a lot of shouting coming from his office, however. Rey bites her lip and bids farewell to both Rose and Finn, who leave before her.

Technically she does have work she can be doing. That much is true. But as the office slowly empties of workers the pace of Rey’s heartbeat quickens.

It’s nearly six by the time Poe leaves. He looks surprised to see her still sitting at her cubicle. “Rey!” He gives her a genuine, though tired smile. “I didn’t realize you were still here.” He jerks his head back at Solo’s still-closed door. “Don’t work all night like that guy, okay?”

Rey nods, lips pressing together into a thin line. Is Dameron being serious? Does Solo plan to work into the night and not talk to her?

When she’d walked into work this morning she’d thought she’d be going home with her boss, or hell, she’d at least figured they’d make out in his car a little. The backseat looked spacious enough.

She had _not_ thought she’d receive nothing but radio silence.

Gathering her things and absolutely fuming, Rey swings her bag over her shoulder and walks right up to Solo’s door. She opens it without bothering to knock.  
Her boss looks exhausted and a little haggard. He sighs when he realizes it’s her. “Rey.”

She opens her mouth to speak to him before hesitating. Now that she’s in Solo’s office and looking at him, she understands that she’s not sure what she really wants to say. Really, the effect he has on her is simply unfair.

And then, straitening up, she remembers. “I really enjoyed talking with you Saturday night.”

His eyes widen a little, as if that wasn’t what he’d been expecting her to say at all. “I-I did too.”

Rey nods, pulling her bag up a little higher on her shoulder. “So, you can understand why I didn’t appreciate you not talking to me at all yesterday. Or today.”

“Rey—”

“I was looking forward to today, you know.”

Solo lets out a deep, frustrated breath. “Trust me, I was as well.”

Rey’s eyes narrow. “Then why—”

“Some things from my past are currently trying to worm their way back into my life.” Solo shakes his head vehemently. “I’m trying to eradicate a threat before it even gets started. I…” He trails off, eyes flicking across her face, taking in her features. As if he’s not sure how much information he wants to divulge.

And sitting there he just looks so _delectable_ , now that Rey has really been able to stand and get a good eyeful. She takes note of the large wooden desk he’s sitting at and an idea suddenly occurs to her. Letting her bag drop to the floor, she steps up and around Solo’s desk until she’s standing in front of him. He’s turned in his office chair so that he’s facing her, eyes now half-lidded.

Rey bends, ducks her head down and kisses him before she can lose her nerve. Solo’s mouth is hot and he immediately parts his lips for her, delving his tongue into her mouth and making her knees feel like jelly.

She pulls away before she can lose her grip on the situation. Her head hovers just a little above his own. His lustful eyes stare up at her, hair falling across his forehead.  
“I’m sorry you’ve had a shit day.” Rey leans down again, gives him a sultry kiss. She pulls away and he chases her mouth with his own; she has to gently place a hand on his chest to restrain him. “Can I make it better?” Her tone goes low, conveying her meaning.

The only expression on Solo’s face for a moment is sheer awe, and then he’s vigorously nodding his head. Rey lets him lean forward and nip at her neck as her fingers fumble with his belt and then the zipper to his black pants.

Solo’s breathing stutters as Rey’s hand brushes against his erection. She pulls his cock out and drops to her knees. He groans loudly at the sight.

Rey has never really done anything like this before. Well, she’s given head, sure. But not while practically underneath her own boss’s desk on said boss. Still, she can’t help but feel a rush of confidence at the way Solo is looking at her as she finds a semi-comfortable spot on the floor to kneel, as if she’s a miracle blossoming to life before him.

She makes eye contact and then pointedly spits on her palm. He gasps as she grips him, sliding her hand up and down and appreciating the wet sound coming from her spit slick palm. She positions her head and flicks out once with her tongue, just barely tasting him. Solo’s entire body jerks and pre-cum leaks from the tip of him at the contact. She opens her mouth and lets her hot breath ghost over the head, teasing him until she finally envelops him into her mouth. There she picks up a steady pace, suckling leisurely as she sets to dipping her head up and down the full length of him.

His hands wind themselves into her hair quickly, fingers flexing against her scalp in time with the bobbing of her head. Rey pulls back, pressing the edge of her tongue against a vein and following it up and down his shaft quickly, relishing the sounds that come from the back of Solo’s throat. His little whines and gasps travel like lightning bolts down to her own clitoris.

She clenches her legs together, already feeling her wetness seep into her panties.

Rey alternates between hollowing her cheeks around the head while working the rest of him with her hand, and trying to take as much of him down her throat as possible. Solo’s cock is lovely and thick and _fucking perfect_ , and when it hits a certain deep spot that makes her gag around him she preens under the flushed, pleasure drunk expression on Solo’s face.

She uses the extra saliva as further lubricate for her palm against him, twisting her hand up and down his length while she moves her head further down to run her tongue over the seam of his balls. He cries out at that, hands tightening their grip in her hair. His cock twitches against her cheek and she grins, taking the head of him back into her mouth, running her tongue under the ridge and sucking viciously.

“ _Rey_ ,” he chokes out.

She does it again, moving along with him as his hips buck up off the chair. 

“I’m going to come.” His voice is thick.

“Do it.” She takes as much of him as she possibly can, sucking and swallowing and letting the movements of her throat and mouth further stimulate him. She groans from deep within her own chest, the noise reverberating throughout her body and vibrating against Solo’s cock. It ends him. He lets out a low, guttural moan as he starts to pulse into her mouth, hot semen spurting against the back of her throat. Rey swallows it down quickly, not minding the saltiness of him at all.

He’s staring down at her, dazed, when she finally pulls him out of her mouth. He’s still twitching with aftershocks when she gently tucks him back into his pants.

**

She has a text from him waiting for her an hour and a half later. It’s the first thing she sees when she climbs out of the shower.

__**That was the best head I’ve ever gotten  
** Seriously  
Christ, I can’t stop thinking about it  
Please let me return the favor. Tomorrow? 

Grinning to herself, Rey hurries to answer him.

_**Deal** _

**  
The next morning Rey decides to swing by the local trendy coffeeshop on her way into the office. She’s texted Solo a couple of times already in order to ask if he’d like anything, but he’s yet to respond.

Rey is beginning to wonder if Solo is the type that sucks at replying to messages or if maybe…maybe he doesn’t want to talk to her much? Maybe they had that one-off conversation last Saturday and that’s it? Maybe they’re just supposed to fuck and get it over with like Finn originally suggested?

Either way, this whole Solo situation is turning out to be much more complicated then Rey thought it would.

She’s next in line when she hears the clipped, frustrated English accent of the man standing behind her.

“Bazine, darling, I don’t care how you get it done just do it. You know how I hate asking twice.”

Frowning, Rey turns around to regard him. He’s tall, she quickly realizes, perhaps even taller then Solo. Beautiful, intelligent, and bored blue eyes dip down to glance over her before widening. His gaze quickly settles on Rey and he instantly lowers his phone.

“My apologies.” His voice is like velvet and he tilts his head, taking her in. “I hope I wasn’t being rude. It’s been a tough week. Business, you know.”

He’s just so _bloody handsome_. And in a more traditional sense then Solo. This stranger’s face heralds classic, youthful features, although Rey suspects he’s in his mid-thirties at least. His blonde hair is cut and styled to perfection and Rey realizes with a jolt that she’s still staring at him.

She remembers something Finn had said yesterday while internet stalking. Something about someone looking like Paul Bettany?

The thought crosses her mind that Finn could’ve been referring to this man, because he’s a walking drink of water.

“Sorry,” she squeaks, feeling herself flush. “Y-You weren’t being rude. I just—” She cuts herself off, preparing to turn around and pretend like this awkward encounter never happened when the man lets out a chuckle.

“Cat got your tongue, darling?” He winks at her then sticks out his hand for her to shake. She does, shuddering as his large palm and fingers envelop her own.

“I’m Andrew.” The lovely man says. “Andrew Snoke.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Muhaha. I’ve been planning that little reveal for ages. *cracks knuckles* Rey and Ben don’t know what just hit them. Let’s do this.
> 
> Also, there’s a severe lack of Ben receiving head in Reylo fics so I’m happy to oblidge here. It’s my birthday today and I felt like Ben deserved a present too ;)
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_)! 
> 
> If you liked let me know?


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